Pubdate: Fri, 24 Dec 2004
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright: 2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Contact:  http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/408
Author: Christine Frey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

DRUG COURTS ARE NOT A RIGHT, JUSTICES RULE

Supreme Court Says It's Up To Counties, Not State

The state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that drug offenders do not
have a constitutional right to go through a drug court program to
avoid a felony conviction.

Katharine Keithley and Melody Harner each sued the state after they
were separately convicted of drug possession. The counties in which
they were arrested did not offer a drug court, which would have
allowed the women to receive treatment instead of jail time. King
County has a drug court.

Attorneys for the women argued that the lack of drug courts in the
counties violated the women's rights to equal protection or due
process, but the court unanimously rejected those arguments yesterday.

In a decision written by Justice Charles Johnson, the court noted that
the Legislature did not require all counties to establish drug courts.

"Because establishment of a drug court could effectively promote
frugal use of state and local resource in one county but drain local
and state resource in another, the structure of (the law) achieves the
Legislature's purpose of allowing each county the choice of
establishing a drug court program and structuring any such program,"
the decision said.

The court also noted that the Legislature did not establish the drug
courts as an entitlement for defendants. So drug offenders have no
constitutional rights to be tried in drug courts.

In a separate decision, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that a defendant
accused of killing four people in Des Moines could present evidence of
insanity at trial though he declined to answer questions from the
state's medical experts.

The court also said that the prosecution could introduce evidence of
the defendant's refusal to answer at trial, but the state could not
use that evidence to suggest the defendant is sane.

Leemah Carneh pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity after being
charged in 2001 with four counts of aggravated first-degree murder in
the deaths of Richard and Leola Larson, their 17-year-old grandson,
Taelor Marks, and his girlfriend, Josie Peterson.
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